


Happy Birthdays

by LadyAbernathyWordsmith



Series: The Uchiha Chronicles [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, One Big Happy Family, One-Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 10:55:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8325097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAbernathyWordsmith/pseuds/LadyAbernathyWordsmith
Summary: Who knew a little jealousy could set off a multi-generational tradition of food-wasting?Sasuke recounts a glorious Team 7 birthday tradition.//Can be read independantly//





	

Sasuke's birthday had been the first they celebrated as a team, it felt like a lifetime ago...

Sakura had insisted, despite Sasuke, more than once, protesting the idea. "I hate sweets anyway, I don't want a stupid cake."

But, as ever, Sakura insisted on at least some small acknowledgement. So she, with the help of her mother, made four personalized boxed lunches and a small buttercream cake to split between the four of them.

The cake was pretty good, vanilla with red insides, and not tooth-achingly sweet or over-sugared like store-bought usually turned out to be. But, regardless of his appreciation, Sasuke still couldn't bring himself to finish an entire piece and left a good portion of his slice uneaten.

"Ingrate," Naruto muttered under his breath when Sasuke saw it fit to shove what was left of his cake onto Kakashi's plate, though the masked ninja hadn't taken a single morsel from the lunch or desert. Then, an idea sparked and Naruto grinned.

Just as the Uchiha was about to stand, Naruto quickly grabbed the cake from Kakashi, which had one whole and one half-eaten parts, and smushed it into Sasuke's face.

For all of five seconds, nobody moved. Sakura sat there, eyes wide as the plate dropped onto the blanket and Sasuke's frosting-coated face dripped, one eyebrow twitching.

Naruto instantly turned tail and fled, laughing like the idiot he was as Sasuke hurriedly wiped what he could off his face, and gave chase, roaring that he would pay dearly.

The chase ended when Naruto was caught, and smacked by Sakura for wasting her precious efforts.

Naruto's birthday was next, and a few months later. Sakura suggested another celebration, and Naruto was significantly more agreeable than Sasuke had been over his birthday party.

There wasn't any personalized lunch boxes, but instead a paid-for dinner at Itchiraku's, courtesy of Kakashi and Iruka-sensei.

The entire hour they ate though, Naruto was anticipating the cake. Did Sakura make his home-made too!?

It was presented to him by Ayame, the chef's daughter. It was small, store-bought, and chocolate, his name misspelled on the cake was just the cherry on top. He friggen hated chocolate...

But, it was better than nothing. He hid his small disappointment, and smiled as he thanked Teuchi and Ayame, his teachers and his teammates. Just before Ayame was about to set the candle, Sasuke reached behind Naruto and smacked his head, forcing his face into the mountain of chocolate and ruining the entire, tiny cake.

"Why did you do that, you heartless bastard!!" Naruto shrieked at the Uchiha, who merely smirked as, somewhere at the front, a camera flash went off. "That's payback, dobe." He said, sounding victorious.

Naruto's heartbreak was only made worse when he realized that everybody was laughing, even Ayame and Teuchi were chuckling under their breath! As Naruto sloughed the cake off his whiskered face, he heard Sakura speaking. "Hey, Dad! Did you get that?"

"Dang right I did!" Naruto blinked, looking up and seeing a rather tall, red-haired man standing at the door with a pink instant camera in hand. "Here you go, sweetpea." He said, giving her the camera and the picture still inside. "And here  _you_ go, kid. Happy birthday." Sakura's dad said with a laugh, putting a clothbag on his head. 

Naruto reached for it, confused as the tall man let go of it. He pulled it out, and nearly cried.

A cake, a full cake! Home-made with his name spelled right and everything! Iruka took it out of his hands as fat tears slid down his face and snot dribbled down his nose, and put it on the table as Ayame tossed the ruined chocolate one into the garbage. 

And, inside the bag was something else, wrapped in paper. Naruto pulled it out, and looked up at Sakura, bright blue eyes almost begging for permission. "Go ahead, open it, it's from all of us." She implored him, a smile on her face.

He tore it open, fast as lightening. She got him a book! He opened it, his heart gone aflutter. Pictures and notes, from almost everyone he knew.  **"You're annoying, but you're not so bad. - Shikamaru." "Happy Birthday, idiot!"- Kiba. "Best wishes from everyone!"- Lee. "May the spirit of youth never leave you as you grow older!" -Master Guy. "I'm sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you. Happy birthday, Naruto-kun." -Hinata. "Sakura, Ino and I made the cake! It's gonna knock your socks off! Tell me how you like it later, kay?" -Chouji.** And a dozen others, each note accompanied by a picture of the writer, holding up a notebook with well-wishes written in their handwriting, and another set of pictures with Sakura, Chouji and Ino in a kitchen, making the cake with Sakura's mom at the wings, helping when she could.

He felt something wet touch his face, and looked up. It was Sakura, wiping the chocolate away with a damp hankie. Sincere tears were falling now, and he went to hug her, babbling nonsensical thank yous as she shrieked about getting chocolate on her.

And the cake was amazing too, yellow, spongey inside, with white cream and walnuts, and soft yellow frosting. It was the best cake he'd ever had.

Sakura's party went much the same way a few months later, a cake made by her mother, and store-bought cupcakes to smash in her face. She steamed, furious, but couldn't bring herself to be very angry for very long when Sasuke saw it fit to wipe some off her cheek and eat it.

Pictures were taken, and added to the scrapbook Naruto had been given.

Try tried to get Kakashi when his birthday rolled around, they made an entire day of trying to cake him in the face, but to no avail. Kakashi kept dodging and when he finally sat still enough to let them, he managed to get some cake on them when he wiped it off his face. 

Sasuke left for Oto before his next birthday, however, so they didn't have a party. That day seemed particularly gloomy, in both his and Sakura's memories.

Naruto was getting ready to leave too by the time his own birthday swung around a few months later, Jiraya-sensei and he would be off within a week, and he wasn't holding out much hope. Sakura had been withdrawn since Sasuke left, hiding away most days and diving head-first into her med-nin studies almost every single day, and even Kakashi had been seen less and less around the village, as if he was trying to distract himself from his failure as a teacher.

So, when he heard someone knock on his door early that morning, he had thought maybe it was just his land lord, asking for his advance payments so he could still have an apartment when he came back to Konoha...

And instead got a face full of cake.

There, Sakura stood with a grin on her face, Hinata, Kiba and Lee behind her. After Sakura had stuffed his face, the boys followed suit and pelted him with soft, squishy, cakey goodness.

It felt good to laugh again, especially as he ran to hug Sakura in his messy, dessert-covered state, eventally pinning her down and rubbing his frosting-covered face on her shirt much to her chagrin. 

Hinata was the one who gave him his birthday cake that year, a collaboration of her and Chouji's efforts this time, as Sakura and Ino were busy with studying. It was sweeter, and Naruto found that he liked it just as much as the year before. 

The next two years were a little lonely, sure. Jiraya didn't know about the newly founded cake-smash tradition, but he had his pictures and that was almost enough. He smiled at the memories, and had himself a little cupcake.

He had unfortunately missed out on Sakura's birthdays during his absence, but was more than willing to make-up for the missing years. On her birthday, he armed a good number of his clones with cupcakes (specially chosen to have creamy white frosting that would splat nicely) and with the help of Shikamaru's Shadow possession jutsu, he had her covered and all their friends set off poppers around her.

(It was a good thing her gift that year was a year-long pass to the hot-springs, because she desperately needed a bath after every nook and cranny of hers was covered in frosting.)

It kept going like this for the years Sasuke was gone, and when they could manage some sort of celebration. Even during the war! After being recovered from the battle field, missing an arm and in the hospital, Sakura saw it fit to hit him with a cake with Sasuke and Kakashi behind her.

There wasn't a home-made cake that year, everybody was still recovering from the battle, but that tiny little coffee cake, smothered in whipped cream, was great. It took a bit to get off his face though, since Naruto was still trying to get used to his lacking arm and kept trying to wipe his face with a stump.

Sasuke did have one more birthday with them though, between his redemption journey and leaving for his multi-year mission for the village.

All day he dodged any cake throw Naruto tossed, and avoided every single pastry thrown at his head.

At the end of the day, he was walking with Sakura. "Naruto's getting frustrated. He really wants to cake you." 

"It's a childish tradition," He said, as stoic as ever. "And besides, you know I still hate-"

"Yes, yes, I'm aware." She said, waving her hand slightly with a little smile on her face. "Well, I guess you do have a point. This little tradition of ours did start a long time ago. You were the first victim, weren't you?"

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. "Because Naruto got jealous."

Sakura laughed slightly. "Yeah, dumb reason to start a tradition. Well, I guess if it started with you, it should end with you."

"Don't let me end all your fun. You two are more than welcome to continue ruining your laundry and getting frosting in your hair if you want."

The pink haired woman sighed slightly, her smile almost forlorn as she looked off to the side. "Say, Sasuke-kun?" She said softly, after a moment, turning back to him.

"Nn?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow at his short girlfriend.

"I have an idea for a good birthday present, but I'd like to run it past you before I tell you." She said, looking up at him.

"Does it really count as a present if you tell me before?" Asked Sasuke, the tiniest bit of humor in his voice. 

"Well, this one does." She said, her smile gone a bit wider. "I want to give you something special before you leave again. Remember what you told us, when we first met as a team?"

Ah, geeze. that was so long ago... "Revenge and..." He knew his dream had always been to restore his clan, but did he tell them that on their first day? "To restore my clan, right?" He took a shot in the dark.

"Well," Sakura fiddled with her thumbs, unintentionally calling to mind that Hyuuga heiress Naruto was dating. She even blushed, and looked away for half a second, but looked up to face him when she spoke again. "Consider this me asking you to help fulfill that dream while accomplishing the goal I set down that day. I want to be your wife, and give you a child."

All at once, the world suddenly stopped turning. Sasuke was frozen, mismatched-eyes wide, looking down at his pink-haired, green-eyed love.

Wife? Child?! Those were definitely in his plans, of course, but he...He was going to ask her!! He'd been mentally planning his proposal for  _months_! Reservations, flower arrangements, he even sent out for a necklace to be made special for her from silver smiths in Komogakure!! If she'd just waited  _ **one more week**_!!!

But, that was just superfical, right? Marriage, wedding,  _child_!! Yes, yes he wanted to marry her, yes he wanted children, goddamn mother of god  _yes_!!

All through his mental work-up, his face remained a mask. He should probably voice this, right? Otherwise Sakura might take his silence for rejection, and he sure as high heaven  _didn't_ want that. "Ye-"

Then...cake struck. 

Sakura took a step back, giggling into her hands as Naruto and Kakashi went up from behind, with one cake coming from the left and the other from the right, and frozen in joy by the prospect of marriage, he'd let his guard down long enough to be ambushed.

As the blonde behind him guffawed, and the Hokage chuckled, Sasuke was still as stone. Then, he knelt, scooped up Sakura with his only arm, and left.

She squawked as she was lifted, and allowed herself to be carried away with wide green eyes. Naruto waved goodbye, a grin on his face as his two best friends left. Probably to have wanton birthday sex.

Sasuke did take her back to his house, closed the door behind him and held her against wall. "You planned this, didn't you?" He said, his cake-covered face close to hers. "Fess up."

Sakura smiled, wiping off some of the frosting on his face, and licking it off. "To be perfectly honest, I had no idea." She said, sounding innocent. "But, it was good timing."

"So, you really want to marry me?" 

Sakura smacked his face lightly, holding his frosting-covered face with her two hands. "No. I chased you around the continent and fought a war so I could be your girlfriend for the rest of my life." She said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

He kissed her, covering her own face with cake. She squealled, pushing him away as she was coated with cake too; though hardly with any sincereity. She could toss him through the door if she had half a mind to.

And so, they were engaged.

A week later, her necklace came in and Sakura wore the Uchiha Fan proudly around her neck.

Sasuke and Sakura left the village together as husband and wife, before Naruto's next birthday. They asked Naruto's fiancée Hinata to get him three times as much for them while they were gone, and she smiled and promised she would.

Two years later, the Uchiha's returned with little baby Sarada in Sakura's arms, and a very proud-looking Sasuke.

They stayed in the village for a while as a family, but Sasuke had to leave again when trouble was stirring, something about the Sharingan. Sakura stayed to keep their daughter safe, and Sasuke promised to return when the world was safe for Sarada. It was treacherous for her, as the only Uchiha besides Sasuke, her life was in danger so long as people still sought the Sharingan, and her pedigree as a child between two legendary ninjas was like to make her someone many people would like to kidnap and raise as a human weapon.

Sakura stayed in Konoha, and raised Sarada to the best of her abilities.

The cake-thing still happened though. Between Naruto, Sakura and Hinata, birthdays had become a messy affair.

But it hadn't stayed between adults. When Sarada turned three, she looked at her cake and the candles, blew them out and promptly face-planted herself into grandma's special-made cake. She looked up at her mom, a wide grin as she happily licked at her own face, and the grown ups in the audience laughed.

Bolt did it as well during his next birthday. And the year after at Sarada's fourth birthday, it was Bolt who stuffed a hand full of frosting into her newly-glasses-wearing face.

Sarada promptly ran after Bolt, a smile on her lips and a chunk of pastry in hand.

Year after year, it kept happening. Two cakes were always served, one to toss around and one to eat.

When Sasuke came back, he had absolutely no idea that the silly little tradition had continued.

On that fateful birthday, he woke with a cupcake being smushed on his cheek. He jolted upright, the pastry falling to his lap as he looked to his daughter. Sarada was still in her sleeping clothes and giggled as she stepped back.

From beside him, he felt another sugar-based attack. His wife laughed beside him.

He fumed, and tackled her to the bed as she squealed. He wasn't so much  _kissing_ her as he was rubbing his cheeks on hers to cover her as well.

When he heard Sarada laugh, he jumped out of bed to chase her as well, grabbing her as she tried to run into the bathroom, covering her too.

He went to the Hokage's Office that day, intent on reporting his findings on the skill level of that years crop of genin-almost-chunin...when the door shut and both Bolt, Himawari, Sarada, and a clone of Naruto got the back of his head with cinnamon rolls covered with cake frosting.

The clone ran, hauling all three out in a hurry as the original sat on his chair and laughed.

Sasuke gave up trying to be angry, and picked up one of the rolls on the floor and threw it at Naruto, who put up the back of his hand to deflect it...which resulted in the frosting-covered roll to land on the S-class mission reports on his desk.

Sasuke smirked as Naruto shrieked, trying to frantically wipe the frosting from the papers before they stained.

Childish tradition it may be, but whatever. It was fun. He'd get Naruto back when  _his_ birthday came around, and he'd even enlist Bolt and Himawari to help.


End file.
